Dupage Policy Journal

The committee reviewing the middle school social studies curriculum of Roselle Schools presented its findings and requests to the board of education at the board's May 17 meeting. The panel decided to meet each trimester to check up on professional development and student performance.

“We will continue to meet each trimester during implementation to see how it's going, what more professional development ... what our teachers need and how our students are performing based off of their assessments. And then continue to do that the next year as well, just to continue to check the status of everything and then the sustainability," said Kelly Lynn, assistant superintendent for learning and teaching of Roselle Schools. "We are asking for a six-year implementation. It saves us a lot of money down the road and it really gives us a chance to have a little bit of time to really do it and do it well and then make sure that we're using it with fidelity and everything to see that was working with students, without having to try to review a curriculum cycle again,” 

A team comprised of the 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade social studies teachers Jonathon Logli, Dan Nowak, Joel Simburger, the assistant superintendent, and Lisa Steiner, an instructional coach, evaluated the middle school social studies curriculum and made a few changes to better serve the teachers and students.

The committee came to the board to present its ideas and get approval for the purchase of TCI (Teacher Curriculum Institute) History Alive curriculum resources to engage students in the classroom. The curriculum offers both print and online resources, aid for EL learners, primary sources, hands-on activities, and a focus on developing critical thinking skills.

The course also features a lot of individual and personal experience-based lessons to help students dig deeper into the lessons. One example has kids stepping into roles like Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson to have their own version of the debate that occurred at the beginning of the American government to better understand what all the reasons and arguments were about.